The Gamma fight was great, except I was a little bit disappointed in its conclusion. It make perfect sense that its power source, the energy elements, were its weak spot. What doesn’t really make any sense is that they were just totally exposed in his gaping mouth. That really makes no sense at all, especially given that Mega Man had to search for a weak spot in the armor and there were none at all. It was nice to see an enemy actually be a real challenge for him though.

The ending is very intriguing. Apparently, Mr. X has an entire group of henchmen and lieutenants. With their get-up, I imagine it is some sort of super villain group. Also, I’m calling it right now. Ms. Y, or whatever her name is, is totally a robot.

Yeah, overall a good issue but the conclusion was a little too easy and the art didn't really show off the tension too well in certain spots. I liked that Gamma was shown as unstoppable for the majority of the battle though, even if once the trick was found out it was super easy to fix. Mr. X's intrigue is amping up tons, and seeing the secretary from that alternate Mega Man piece is really cool. I'm interested in what they're going to be doing with that.

Good ending to the arc. I was genuinely shocked Wily's "death" was kept. Especially Since they're going to discover he's alive in like an issue. :(hearty laughter):

On that not though O liked that Dr. Light's reaction was to think back to happier time when thy were working together. I also liked the little moment of Blues whistling to let them know he was there before teleporting away. It was an oddly sweet moment.

Astrobot7000 wrote:The Gamma fight was great, except I was a little bit disappointed in its conclusion. It make perfect sense that its power source, the energy elements, were its weak spot. What doesn’t really make any sense is that they were just totally exposed in his gaping mouth. That really makes no sense at all, especially given that Mega Man had to search for a weak spot in the armor and there were none at all.

What doesn't make sense about it? The elements were exactly where they were depicted back in issue #36, and Light pointed out in this very issue's flashbacks that Gamma wasn't designed for combat, and that Wily wouldn't have had time to weaponize it, meaning he probably wouldn't have had time to reinforce or otherwise protect the energy elements, either, especially since he had to basically devise a way to control Gamma while Mega Man was coming.

Truth be told, I think this was a brilliant way to run with Gamma's weakness to Search Snake, making it more than "oh, it's the useless weapon, so of course it works on the final boss."

My only disappointment is that Mega Man didn't deliver the final blow with Top Spin.

Gamma was the invincible robot with no weakness. That was why he was so dangerous in the first place. Not being weaponized meant he had no guns or rocket punches or giant boomerangs or lead bubbles, but to have all his energy elements just sitting around in the open is a gigantic easy obvious weak spot that makes Rock almost look dumb for not thinking of it before. Heck, Search Snake wasn't even necessary: he could have used his regular buster and accomplished the same thing.

It's a good issue, but it's a pretty lame way to conclude the threat. The second the trick is figured out, Gamma is basically a non-threat. I'd be willing to put at least some of that on the art though, and really it's not a bad trick as much as putting the energy elements in his mouth was dumb. It'd just be a bit better if it was harder to get to the weak spot.

Penguin God wrote:Gamma was the invincible robot with no weakness. That was why he was so dangerous in the first place. Not being weaponized meant he had no guns or rocket punches or giant boomerangs or lead bubbles, but to have all his energy elements just sitting around in the open is a gigantic easy obvious weak spot that makes Rock almost look dumb for not thinking of it before. Heck, Search Snake wasn't even necessary: he could have used his regular buster and accomplished the same thing.

It's a good issue, but it's a pretty lame way to conclude the threat. The second the trick is figured out, Gamma is basically a non-threat. I'd be willing to put at least some of that on the art though, and really it's not a bad trick as much as putting the energy elements in his mouth was dumb. It'd just be a bit better if it was harder to get to the weak spot.

Well, the cells were up in Gamma's mouth; Hard Man had to pry and hold it open for the others to fish them out when they invaded before. The use of the Search Snakes is probably more on account of being smaller and faster, able to sneak in where Mega Man would have had a more difficult time. Sure, Mega Man could have fired blindly, but that would have potentially given Wily time to retaliate and knock him away, too. And unlike the games, Wily/Gamma are a bit more diverse in ability and far less pattern based, so there might not have been a second chance to do it.

As for Gamma being a threat, don't forget he was never meant to be a threat. Given enough time, Wily surely would have made him a far greater one, but Gamma was made to stand against natural disasters and such things-- for all intents and purposes, keeping the energy elements where they were was probably done with the same logic behind a car engine-- protected from outside elements, but still quickly and easily accessible.

Finally, for Mega Man not thinking about it before? Might have something to do with something the size of a Megazord tearing down the castle around him-- some people might find that slightly distracting.

I guess I'm going to have to disagree with you. It doesn't make any sense to have such an obvious weakness left totally exposed. Is Wily really that stupid that he can't take an hour to reinforce the area? It has nothing to do with weaponizing Gamma. It's just basic logic. It would be similar to me walking around in full riot gear and body armor with a huge visible hole in my body armor. Heck, I could weld some steel plates over the energy element area in an hour. It also make Rock look like a chump to not have immediately tried to attack that spot. I completely buy the search snakes being used, but it would have made a lot more sense if he had to blast a tiny hole in the mouth joint and then shoot the snakes in that to remove the energy elements.

Oh well. Maybe the next Gamma fight will have a better conclusion.

Last edited by Astrobot7000 on Wed Apr 15, 2015 1:31 pm, edited 2 times in total.

1) Dr. Wily's primary focus was getting control of Gamma. His castle and its defenses were slowing Mega Man down so he could just get the control cap completed. I thought that was stated in-book. Then again, I never saw the final art, and I know there were some pretty glaring art errors during production, so maybe that's where some of the confusion comes from?

2) Dr. Light never intended for it to be a jaw. Gamma had a very tiny head and a very large piece of chest armor protecting the Energy Elements. Only once Dr. Wily slapped down the control cap did Gamma look like he had a Guts Man-styled jaw.

3) The Energy Elements weren't meant to be exposed as they were in the art. It was supposed to be that the Search Snakes slithered and squirmed their way into an otherwise inaccessible place. They were also supposed to be shown actively tearing the Energy Elements out and coiling around them to explode.

I don't know why we didn't have Jamal, Ryan, or Powree on the finale to something we've been building towards for two years, but that's not my call.

[/quote]3) The Energy Elements weren't meant to be exposed as they were in the art. It was supposed to be that the Search Snakes slithered and squirmed their way into an otherwise inaccessible place. They were also supposed to be shown actively tearing the Energy Elements out and coiling around them to explode.

I don't know why we didn't have Jamal, Ryan, or Powree on the finale to something we've been building towards for two years, but that's not my call.[/quote]

Is it me, or is Mega Man and Sonic both filled with weird artist disconnect? is it just a recent thing that the stories have all needed specific things to happen on the page? I remember in the early days we had miscolorations, but now we have designs and scenes that are totally different than what the writer wanted

1) Dr. Wily's primary focus was getting control of Gamma. His castle and its defenses were slowing Mega Man down so he could just get the control cap completed. I thought that was stated in-book. Then again, I never saw the final art, and I know there were some pretty glaring art errors during production, so maybe that's where some of the confusion comes from?

2) Dr. Light never intended for it to be a jaw. Gamma had a very tiny head and a very large piece of chest armor protecting the Energy Elements. Only once Dr. Wily slapped down the control cap did Gamma look like he had a Guts Man-styled jaw.

3) The Energy Elements weren't meant to be exposed as they were in the art. It was supposed to be that the Search Snakes slithered and squirmed their way into an otherwise inaccessible place. They were also supposed to be shown actively tearing the Energy Elements out and coiling around them to explode.

I don't know why we didn't have Jamal, Ryan, or Powree on the finale to something we've been building towards for two years, but that's not my call.

That makes much more sense. I think the art is definitely misleading. It looks very much like the energy elements are just sitting completely exposed in the "jaw" area, but covered in shadow. It's unfortunate that it didn't translate to the page very well. But your explanation bumps up my appraisal of the issue significantly.